A nice alternative to subject and predicate worksheets, and a fun way to support language arts lessons, is a subject and predicate game I like to play with my students called, “Silly Sentences.” 

Prior to playing, students need to have knowledge of what is a complete subject, and what is a complete predicate:  A simple sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.  The subject contains a noun or noun phrase.  The predicate contains a verb which agrees with the subject. 

Most students grasp complete subjects as they are comfortable with nouns, but the words “complete predicates” can be confusing.  Often, young students are introduced to these using the terms, “naming part” and “telling part”, so the higher-level vocabulary of “predicate” takes time to assimilate.  You might want to focus on using predicate examples more than the examples of subjects.

Once students understand subjects and predicates, you’re ready to play the game. 

1.  Ask half the class to write on small scraps of paper any complete subject.  Remind them to begin their subjects with capital letters as these will be the beginnings of the sentences. You could extend this by using descriptive language through adjectives, as well.

2.  Let the other half of the class each write a complete predicate on small scraps of paper.  Remind them to end each with a period, as they are in charge of the end of the sentences.  Again, extend this with the use of descriptive adverbs.

3.  Encourage students to use descriptive language to make their sentence parts more interesting. 

4.  Finally, collect the subjects and then collect the predicates.  Choose one from each stack to read as one, complete sentence.  The students will fall over laughing.  You often get sentences such as, “The fat, hairy monster —– quickly got dressed for school.”  After the kids understand how the game works, switch sides and do it again.  Enjoy!

If you have a child in school, these simple tips can lead to student success, achievement, and good self-esteem as they head back to school.

1. Provide healthy, balanced meals and snacks so that your child has the fuel they need to have a productive day.  Make sure they get regular physical activity.

2.  Our bodies are comprised mostly of water,  so it’s important to stay well-hydrated.  This  will help with energy and clarity of mind. Limit sodas and drinks with sugar in them.

3.  Attendance in school is vital.  School days are packed with a lot of information, group activities, experiments, etc. It’s very difficult to recreate those experiences in a short catch-up session later in the week.  

4.  Make sure your child gets to school on time every day. 

5.  If your child is sick, please contact your teacher and ask for their homework/books to be placed in the front office or sent to you online.  If they are at the front desk, make sure you pick the materials up before school closes for the day.  Do your best to help your child stay current with their schoolwork.

6.  Try to schedule doctor appointments for after school, and schedule family reunions/vacations, etc., when school is closed for those days.

7.  Designate a quiet place for your child to do their homework, as well as a specific beginning and ending time.  If your child goes to a daycare center after school, ask them to do the same.  Do not do their homework for them.  It’s okay to help with directions or to get them started.

8.  Work with your child so he/she is organized. When they are finished with their homework, teach them to put the papers and books right back in their backpack, and then place that pack by the door so they won’t forget it the next morning.

9.  If the teacher sends home things to be signed, please send them back before the deadline.  It causes children stress when they know their field trip forms, for instance, haven’t been returned yet.

10. Have a set bedtime, and limit TV, computer, and game time at least one   hour prior.  Reading every night is a great way to increase vocabulary, comprehension, and calm children’s minds before bedtime.

By consistently following these back to school ideas, you can really help your child with their success in school.

Need an alternative to the much-hyped “Word Wall” in your elementary-school classroom?  It’s been so overused, it’s hard to think of new word wall ideas.  Instead of just a vocabulary building tool, use this idea to connect vocabulary to writing through synonyms.   The use of higher-level vocabulary can give children’s writing more ‘punch’ and raise writing assessment scores. Students who take ownership in back to school bulletin boards see the purpose in using them.  They become tools rather than something to view.

Prior to introducing and modeling the bulletin board usage to students, create or reinforce synonym and thesaurus usage by reading aloud my book, Doris TheSaurus.  (Purchase by linking to: http://www.amazon.com/Doris-TheSaurus-Maria-L-Corkern/dp/1438914369/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1245373697&sr=8-1 )

To create this eye-catching bulletin board, make a large color copy of the cover of Doris TheSaurus.   Cover your bulletin board with butcher-paper or fabric that matches either the red or green on the front of the book.  Put up large, bright-yellow letters at the top of the board that read, “SYNONYMS LEAD TO SUPER SENTENCES!”   Or you could put “DORIS WORDS!” instead.  (That’s what my 3rd-grade students have started calling higher-level vocabulary words!)

Get some brightly colored, lined sentence strips and cut them to varying lengths.  Have them available to students in a basket or tray, along with colorful markers.  When children find, in their readings or in a thesaurus, alternatives to overused words, they write that word on the top of a sentence strip, and then add it’s more powerful synonym underneath on the bottom of the sentence strip.  Have each student show you the words for accuracy, spelling and neatness.  Then either thumb-tack or staple the strips to your new interactive Word Wall! 

I’m sure you and your students will really enjoy this creative writing bulletin board all year long.

Keywords: word wall vocabulary, words wall, word activities, word study activities, vocabulary builders, vocabulary activities

As a first-day-of-school writing activity, I ask my students to show me what they’ve learned from the previous year regarding writing and language arts.  I do this for four reasons: 

1) At the beginning of each school year, students are trying their best to impress me so they diligently work to show off.

2) This information helps with student self-assessment and goal setting as the year progresses.   

3) It keeps students accountable if their work backslides during the school year.   

4) It’s helpful in parent conferences to show each child’s abilities and areas of improvement.

First, you have to decide what you want to evaluate from their previous year in school.   Since I teach 3rd grade, I’m looking for proper sentence and paragraph structure; grammar; spelling; end marks; quotation marks; capitalization; use of descriptive language, higher-level vocabulary, dictionaries and thesauruses; as well as neat printing.  All of these areas are covered in the 2nd-grade, language-arts curriculum.  In order to assess these areas, I give the following first-day-of-school writing prompt: 

PROMPT:  It’s the first day of school.  When you enter the classroom, you are shocked to realize that YOU are the teacher and all of your friends are the students!  Describe for me, in essay form, what your classroom looks like, what subjects you are going to teach, what are your rules, how you plan to reward and discipline your students, what special things you do for your students, as well as your favorite books you’re planning to read to them and why they are your favorites.  

Do not offer any ideas or help beyond this point.  Set a time limit.  Students who are finished early can illustrate a picture of their essay.  Have dictionaries and thesaurus present should they choose to use them.

After I evaluate each essay, I use it as an ‘opener’ in my first conference of the year with each student to discuss the things they remembered from the previous year, as well as to point out where they need a bit of a refresher course.  At this point, I would discuss with each child what his or her goals are for the year with regard to reading and math levels, behavior, organization, attendance, awards, etc.  For each child, begin a binder or folder with these two pieces of information.  Use them for the first parent/teacher conference, as well as a place for students to put their best work and/or new goals.

I’m sure you can see that this plan is adaptable to any grade level and within any subject.  You would have to modify the back-to-school writing prompt, but this idea can be used to evaluate any grade and subject taught the previous year, as well as assist in school-year goal setting and achievement.  Here’s to a great year!

It’s hard to finance a long vacation given the current state of our economy, so many families are trying out the “staycation” idea.  One fun thing you can do that doesn’t cost very much is to take a one-day road trip someplace near where you live that you haven’t yet explored and play a staycation game along the way.  Turn off the mini-van TVs and ipods, and try out this fun staycation game for the road:

Road Trip BINGO

Make a 5×5 square inch grid…easy to do on the computer or even just with a ruler and copy paper.  Put one letter of the word B-I-N-G-O above each column.   Fill each square with things you see on the trip.  You can just write the words or if you have little ones, find some free clipart and cut/paste pictures of things you see while you drive.  You’ll need 24. Here is a sample list, but feel free to add to it/change:  In the middle square put “free”.  On the remaining squares put: stop sign, stop light, bridge, yield sign, 65 mph sign, McDonalds, Burger King, Wendy’s (or your other favorites), gas station, crosswalk, exit sign, semi truck, police car, rest area, animal  tractor-trailer ( with horses, chickens, cows, etc.), bus, red sports car, white mini-van, hotel, shopping mall, HOV lane, fire station, office building, billboard, gray truck.

You can also play License-Plate BINGO.  Just mark the squares (except the “free” space) with the names of different states.

As passengers see the various things on the BINGO card, they can put a sticker or stamp on that square.  The person who fills a row, column or diagonal calls out “BINGO” and is the winner!  Have a fun prize for the winner, or something special they get to do when you arrive back at home.  Make multiple copies of the game board and have lots of stickers if you want to play either game more than once.  Have fun and drive safely!

Let’s face it.  It’s hard to keep the kids busy at the end of the school year.  Their minds are focused on getting out of school and where they might go for summer break.  So, harness that mental energy with a fun summer vacation creative writing assignment that gives them a moment to practice their persuasive paragraph writing techniques one last time in your classroom.  Read to the end to find a fun way for the children to present their writing!

Prompt:  You are given the task of persuading your family to take you on a summer vacation destination of your choice.  This must be convincing, so outline your ideas before you start.  Your outline should consist of three very convincing reasons why you should get your way, which does not include weak phrases like, “It would be fun.”   Remember the elements of persuasive writing:  Begin with your opinion on where the family should travel, follow each of three reasons with an explanation, and end with a ”call to action” ( telling them what to do in a creative way).  Make sure you include descriptive writing using a thesaurus for higher-level vocabulary.  Check your spelling, be convincing, and don’t use “please, please, please” in your writing.  No begging allowed!

Teacher:  When the students are ready to present their essays to the class, have them bring in props, food, music, and/or dress as they would at their favorite travel destination.  Students, of course, are free to give their essay to their parents/grandparents as a ‘hint’.  Children love this project so much, you’ll be sure to keep it for next year’s end-of-school writing prompt, as well!

keyword: writing prompts elementary

It doesn’t take much effort to buy a gift for a child’s father on his special day; however, presenting him with a poem, handmade card, and/or their favorite treat can be very well received, not to mention save some money.  Here are three types of father poems that might spark an idea (acrostic, haiku, and cinquain) :

Fathers’ Day Acrostic Poem:   An acrostic poem uses each letter of the word “f-a-t-h-e-r” to create a word that represents what he means to you.  Example:

Friend

Affectionate

Terrific

Humorous

Energetic

Responsible

Children can make the first letter much larger, as well as a different color.  Have your child draw pictures of special times with father.

Fathers’ Day Haiku:  A haiku (hi-KOO) is a poem, usually about nature, with three lines.  Line one has 5 syllables; line two is made up of 7 syllables; and the last line, again, has 5 syllables.  Example:

My father, my friend

You are always there for me

Guiding me along

Fathers’ Day Cinquain:  A cinquain (SING-kayn) is a five-line poem.  Cinquain poems use nouns, adjectives and verbs to describe a topic.  The layout is as follows:

Line 1:  one noun (topic)

Line 2:  two adjectives that describe the topic

Line 3:  three action verbs that end in -ing

Line 4:  a phrase comprised of four words that describes the topic

Line 5:  one more noun that tells about the topic

Here’s an example of a Fathers’ Day Cinquain:

Father

Loving, Caring

Laughs, Hugs, Plays

I’m glad he’s mine.

Friend

A nice addition to his poem is a Fathers’ Day Coupon Book.   On separate strips of paper, have your child write chores that dad usually does which they are willing to do instead.  For example:  “This coupon is worth one car wash” or “This coupon is worth one bag of garbage taken to the trash can,” etc.  Decorate each coupon and staple together.

Another nice addition to a poem for Fathers’ Day is baking a special treat that he loves.  Example:  Bake his favorite cookies, brownies, pie, etc.  Decorate each poem with special photographs, drawings, stickers, etc.

Feel free to modify these or write your own if writing poems for father seems challenging.

Keyword: fathers poems

Are you wondering how to keep your child busy and productive over the summer?  Here are some ideas that will help make time away from school enjoyable while retaining and improving skills.  Children who do this are usually very prepared for the upcoming level in school and have increased self-confidence once the summer break is over.  Students who don’t get this reinforcement sometimes begin the new school year a bit behind.  The good news is that there are many options that can help keep their new skills fresh.

Library reading programs are usually offered in the summer, free of charge.  Kids like these programs for many reasons:  They make new friends, get excited about reading because the programs are very positive and upbeat, often get to watch movies based on their books, and sometimes earn incentives for the number of books read. 

Another reason children get excited about summer reading programs is that students are allowed to choose books based on their interests.  A successful reading program begins with student choice.  For the first time, they might discover their favorite author and genre.  In this relaxed setting, struggling readers will discover that reading is enjoyable, while the on- and above-level readers continue to soar.

My main focus is usually reading as it’s the key to success in school, but all subjects are important to reinforce during the summer months.  For example, if your child enjoys learning about government, visit your state capitol or Washington, DC.   Maybe you have a child who loves to read about history, wars, or famous Americans; take them to some US battlefields, a Naval station where you can board a ship, or visit the birthplace of a famous American.  Your local natural history museum will be a big hit with most children, and there are hands-on science exhibits for exploration.  Unfortunately, with a lack of public-school funds, many field trips have been cancelled, so it’s up to the parents now.

You can make math come alive by including your child in cooking to reinforce fractions.  Or get out the hammer, nails, and scraps of wood to reinforce measurement, area and perimeter by building a dollhouse, birdhouse, or doghouse.  The best part of all of this is the interaction between parent and child.

Enroll your child in local arts programs such as music, painting, or dance.  It is research-based that children in such programs learn better.  I’ve never met a child who doesn’t like one part or another of the arts.  In addition, programs that promote physical activity such as swimming or basketball are good for children too.

The biggest mistake you can make with your child is to allow them to waste the summer sitting in front of the TV, computer, and video games while eating junk food and not being active.  If you have reasons why you can’t get your child to a summer program, ask a neighbor or family member to help.  Often, there are camps or summer schools at local places of worship that offer free shuttle services.

If you take your child to a summer daycare, ask them specifically what they do to help reinforce school subject and which outings they plan to take.  Suggest options such as the free, library programs and above-mentioned activities and outings. 

After being involved in a summer program that reinforces the previous school year’s curriculum, your child should be very prepared to enter the next grade when school resumes.  Along with a new outfit and new supplies, there will be a sense of accomplishment and increased self-esteem that can help make the next year successful.

I give this elementary school writing prompt to my students every year during the last week of school.  It’s a writing prompt kids love as it makes them feel good about doing something for someone else.  In addition, it gives students practice writing a friendly letter and is something next year’s students love to receive.

First, find a nice writing template with a border the kids can color.  I have one with school supplies around the edges with a boy and a girl at the bottom of the page.  Next, give your students the following prompt.  And last, put the finished letters in a file for next year’s students.  My students enjoy this so much that I incorporate it as an end-of-year writing prompt in my lesson plans for each school year.

Prompt:  You are going to write a letter to a rising student for next year.  It will be placed on his or her desk on the first day of school.  Follow these instructions.

First, think about the things you did in school over the past year.  On plain notebook paper, make a pre-write list such as science projects/fairs, field trips, parties, assemblies, etc.  Include on your list the things you liked best about each subject, such as your favorites, and what you learned that was different from the previous school year.  Also, jot down any awards you received, good grades, or things you are particularly proud of.  Write down some things about your teacher that you think the student should know, as well as upcoming challenges, rules to follow, and anything that will help them succeed in school next year.

Next, on a plain piece of notebook paper, use your pre-write to craft a rough draft of your letter.  Be sure to follow the friendly letter format.

Then, edit your writing for errors such as spelling and end marks.  Use a thesaurus to eliminate repetitive words.

Next, ‘whisper read’ your letter somewhere in the corner of the room as a way to proofread your draft letter.

After that, transfer your final copy to the writing template your teacher provided.  Make sure you sign your name.

Last, if you would like to, color the border of your letter.

Good work!  One student next year will really enjoy reading your letter on the first day of school!

A cinquain (SING-kayn) is a five-line poem.  Cinquain poems use nouns,  adjectives, and verbs to describe a topic.  The layout is as follows:

Line 1:  one noun (topic)

Line 2:  two adjectives that describe the topic

Line 3:  three action verbs that end in -ing

Line 4:  a phrase comprised of four words that describes the topic

Line 5:  one more noun that tells about the topic

Here is an example you can show your students–then brainstorm ideas for them to write about…

Spring

thunder, flowers

raining, lightning, storming

a rebirth of sorts

life

Students enjoy illustrating their poems, as well.  If you are looking for spring bulletin board ideas, these look really nice with a bright spring background color as well things from nature such as the sun, clouds, rain, flowers, birds, etc.